Making a Pilchard lure, Mahi trolling lure DIY

[@FreedomFishing]

Lure has that Yotamaki. Wobble and roll. Nice job!

[@stripermanly]

Nice job Franco

[@garethpetzer3384]

Thanx so much for this video i got my scallop scissor yesterday sardine run is just around the corner I'll have my lures ready... All the way from South Africa... Thanx again

[@EngineeredAngler]

Awesome

[@pontoontri-hull156]

I was not expecting it to gain that much weight after the initial weigh-in. I'd like to give those foil scales an attempt so I'll probably be watching this again when that happens. Great job Franko!

[@wesneal7913]

That is an amazing lure, and the paint job really made the scales pop. Great video

[@christopherblevins1968]

That's the best foil job I've ever seen! Extra work, but WOW!!

[@MrArcher0]

Your pin trick for locating the eyes is so underrated. I just usually drill I pin hole thru the bait before shaping the bait at all.

[@EngineeredAngler]

Sure, lots of ways to do it. I like this best because I can place the eyes on the shaped lure and adjust for best look.

Another great build thanks Franco. I will definitely be having a crack but with a deeper diver for Aussie bass. I have found with the d fins the action seems ltd so I will form mine like yours. Again brilliant and thank you. 🎣🎣

[@EngineeredAngler]

I'm glad you enjoyed it, good luck with your Aussie bass!

[@syndican_]

Love your vids, they inspired me to make my own nano lures 😊

[@EngineeredAngler]

Great to hear!

[@orosalsero]

Hi Franko, It would be cool if you built a saltwater popper to look like a Sarcastic fringehead with it's mouth open. Great job on this current lure build, looks good enough to eat.

[@thewarpsyrhead]

Looks amazing! Great work (as per yoosh)

[@EngineeredAngler]

Thanks! 😄

[@rickwardenaar2639]

WOW, those scales look awesome!! Great job!

[@EngineeredAngler]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@leehowell4258]

really good lookin lure!

[@EngineeredAngler]

Thanks!

[@ManuelIrizarry-j5s]

Greetings from Montville, NJ. Great job Franco. That Pilchard is a work it art. Awesome job. Thanks for sharing.

[@EngineeredAngler]

I grew up just a few miles west of there near lake mohawk

[@Fish-Erman]

Pilchards and menhaden (bunker, pogy) are not the same, but they are in a similar family of fish I think. You would NOT want to eat a menhaden! Great build, you have 1000X the patience that I do!!

[@pmpkmc]

Beauty... I used to have an old mouse styled Crazy Crawler that i guess was from the 60's. It had what appeared to be leather ears and a tail. Of course when i got a hold of this in the late 80's early 90's the leather was nothing more than little scraps. But this would kill on a warm Summer night in New Hampshire. I couldn't guess how many 5+ lb fish i got with that thing. Lost it one night when i got a knot in my line and cast it into oblivion.

[@SteveOllice]

Your videos continue to inspire me. Gonna have to make one of these for myself. I knew about the masking technique with the soldering iron cutting through the plastic film, but you reminded me. Perfect technique for a lure I am still in progress with.

[@raygissendanner1476]

Great looking lure I wish I was able to make they that good thank you

[@claytonbusbey122]

Great video! I love seeing lures that directly copy the natural diet of a fish. There's always a place for those in the tackle box. Great underwater footage as well. That lure is definitely going to end up with some tooth marks in it at some point!

[@EngineeredAngler]

For sure!

[@harrisgraves592]

Some 32oz metal coffee cans come with an embossed foil safety seal. I've saved some to experiment with. The foil has a nice scale pattern.

[@EngineeredAngler]

Interesting, I'll keep that in mind!

[@user-vi9gw8pt9v]

A lot of information there Franko, great content as always, don't know what to suggest for a lure build you seem to have covered so much.

[@jamescodling8641]

You're a genius sir. Really appreciate your methodical approach and expert guidance. What a top bloke.

[@EngineeredAngler]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@regkershaw]

You are definitely a master of your craft. It's amazing watching you at work. Would love to get of your lures to try in our Australian waters. Well done looking forward to your next build

[@EngineeredAngler]

Thanks 👍

[@mikewasniewski4048]

"I don't want to live forever" said that top fin.

[@DHM_Creative]

Genius with those scallop scissors 🤯 thought you were gonna just free hand the scales 😅

[@eikofisser8171]

Really good, would also work well on pike and muskie I assume!! Very good work! Nice greetings from Germany!

[@tedmemo9625]

Another great lure Franko. I have a suggestion for you. I have made a Lohr Jensen crankbait. It would be nice to see you make one. Mine is a cedar replica like they were in the 1980's. Straight bill lure with a swept back.

[@juderyan1284]

That's a nice looking lure, just looked it up. Might have to have a go myself at that one

[@AAE-cg1il]

Great lure build. I do not have the patience to attempt scales like that.

[@alexandreespindulaferreira3298]

As escamas ficaram perfeitas 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@RegularGuyLures]

Exactly job again sir! Thank you the great videos.

[@pakde8002]

Belated congratulations on 40k! I don't want to jinx it by making a prediction but fingers crossed for a big 2024.

[@EngineeredAngler]

Positive thinking...

[@mikewasniewski4048]

Them scales look sharp.

[@welber.romero]

I discovered your work with fishing bait and your channel just today, I pray in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. I have already watched several videos and will watch them all, I am passionate about fishing and I want to have the satisfaction of using my own baits, made by me, to fish. I watch the videos using subtitles with automatic translation (it's not very good, but I use this feature because my English is very bad. I have a little difficulty converting metric measurements, then in the USA you use inches and here in Brazil we use millimeters and centimeters. I would like to thank you immensely for all your work in sharing your rich knowledge, I am a new subscriber and I eagerly await new videos. A big hug. Welber from Brazil🇧🇷

[@EngineeredAngler]

Muito obrigado e seja bem vindo

[@joyadams6885]

That turned out so good. The scales look so good but I’m not going to lie, I don’t have the patience to do all that. 😂

[@EngineeredAngler]

You just have to Zen out

[@joyadams6885]

@@EngineeredAngler 🤣

[@mikewasniewski4048]

I believe the length is really good.

[@jozsefronai9875]

Fantastic lure Franko ❤

[@EngineeredAngler]

Thanks 👍

[@nearlynativenursery8638]

Very Nice creative artist work skills. One of the best for sure. I truly appreciate all the info you share. One of the most helpful channel if not the best. What about a baby sailfish? You could troll the is lure behind your sailboat. Jim Rodgers

[@EngineeredAngler]

I appreciate that!

[@georges1380]

​@@EngineeredAnglerI am trying to build a subsurface wtd lure. What design would you recomend? I want it to have big darting action but very panicky, not like a swimbait or a glidebait... Ideally it would splash on the surface some times and than dive again. Some short of sinking pencil I guess, but with the appearance of wtd lure?

[@Fksu]

Well done, just don't lose that lure 😂

[@jurajanal2277]

Absolutely beautifull pilchard, if it didn't have hooks and a bib I'd try and gut it for cooking. I have a few questions about the wood you use. Do you dry it yourself and how do you do it or if you let somebody else dry it for you? Do you just let it sit in a dry area or do you somehow steam and / or pressure treat it? I'm worried that if I let stuff like pine and wallnut sit around and dry that they might warp and twist.

[@EngineeredAngler]

I let The wood dry as larger pieces inside my shop period after about 6 months I cut it down to smaller pieces. Sometimes I'll get some warping and some cracking but most of it dries pretty clean.

[@juderyan1284]

Nice one Franco, that came out super nice. I hope you don't get bitten off or snag it after all that work! I just ordered some of the uv resin you normally use, never used uv resin before. I see marling baits has been setting it in sunlight lately. Have you tried that at all?

[@EngineeredAngler]

Yea sunlight works, takes a bit longer.

[@jonathanrittmeier4933]

Great job!!!

[@EngineeredAngler]

Thank you!!

[@mike1261]

I use the same method with a pair of push pin thumb tacks to find the positions of the eyes, if I don't pre-drill a through hole before rounding off the body. Now I'm wanting a pair or two of scalloping shears, those scales look amazing! Question about the scissors... Do you have to stop and clean any adhesive off while cutting the tape or do they stay pretty clean during the process? I like the way the first lure you showed with the aluminum scales had them darkened around the edges, like a "black wash" of paint. Super nice lure Franko!

[@EngineeredAngler]

The scissors stay pretty clean...I'll need to clean them eventually.

[@mike1261]

@@EngineeredAngler Well sir, I finally purchased the scalloped scissors and completed the lure. It took three evenings to cut and apply foil scales to a 7 inch 2-piece swimbait! I'm not sure if I'll ever do this again to a lure this large, but everyone that has seen the lure or its photos have been amazed. Thank you Franko, for the lesson in patience! 😄 Even after watching this video a couple more times, I was surprised at how much weight was added by the tape. I added 5% ballast instead of the usual 15% and was shooting for a suspend to slow sink. I could have probably added between 0% to -5% ballast because I ended up with a medium sink on the lure. It swam as beautifully and it looked though, so I'm not complaining.

[@TheCopperVillageAngler]

Nice!

[@alandarkam2993]

Love the swimming action and colors/pattern that you made, awesome job, lots of patience in the foiling job, congratulations I saw you use Kisrel UV resin, what do you think about it compared to the usual one you use ? I bought the two, same bottle as you, and found the Kisrel to be thinner yes, but got a little trouble to cure it compared to the other one were I had no problem Thank you in advance for your reply and advice, and congratulation again for the job and video !

[@EngineeredAngler]

I haven't had any issues with the new stuff. I do think that I prefer the more viscous resin, it tends to stay put a bit better. Thanks for the question.

[@alandarkam2993]

@@EngineeredAngler Ok, that's a little bit what I think too What about making a stickbait with the look and shape of a squid ? It's something that I would try to do one day, but so much thing and enough things to do haha I start to do some sketch etc... but I focus more on what I already done and how to improve it etc... Thank you for your reply, and keep up the good work ! From a Fisherman and lure maker who live in New Caledonia (Pacific)

[@tevans404]

Question, you mentioned making a mold with the scales. Would the thickness of the tape be enough for the silicone to pick up and then transfer to the resin? Or would it look sloppy?

[@EngineeredAngler]

No...I've done some experiments and you need triple thickness.

[@tevans404]

I figured as much. Thank you!

[@lightsnsiren79]

How do you get your white paint to spray without blobbing and clogging? White airbrush paint is the worst for me!

[@EngineeredAngler]

What brand?

[@vincentiustrisandhi4110]

Hi, franco. I have question about making deep diving crankbait, like all deep diving crank bait have tie on eye beep. I made it but the action is realy small wiggle on tail, may question how troubleshooting tie on eye on long beep? I watch your masterclass crankbait but tie on eye on beep is realy defficult to make it into big action for me. Thanks.

[@EngineeredAngler]

Send me a photo...maybe I can suggest something. [e-mail]

[@vincentiustrisandhi4110]

@@EngineeredAngler Thank you i'll send you some my lure photo to your email. Thanks alot👍.

[@vincentiustrisandhi4110]

@@EngineeredAngler Please check your email in box when you have a time, i already send you a picture of my lure. Thank you, franco.

[@mikewasniewski4048]

Why not pilot drill the eye while the lure is in a flat state like when you cut the lip slot.

[@EngineeredAngler]

Well I like to place the eyes after the lure is fully shaped this way I'm sure they will look as good they can.

[@shadyvito]

Is there any particular reason why you didn't foil the fin? Is it a PITA or did you just not want to?

[@EngineeredAngler]

Just my own esthetic

[@mikewasniewski4048]

Winner!

[@TimothyCrawford-l3t]

Do you use a special drill for the eye.how do you determine the size of the drill?

[@EngineeredAngler]

I go with a forstner bit as close to the eye size as possible. On this one I made the socket much wider.

[@shadowdragon7779]

I know I might not get answer but I’ve started resin casting lures and I’ve used both of your resin/ micro ballon mixes but I get air pockets/voids in the sides of my lures can I please get some advice

[@EngineeredAngler]

Send me photos of the mold, open and closed and with any hardware you put in it. Let's start there... [e-mail]

[@magcolor]

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@SaltyPirate71]

MENHADEN (not MANhanden), aka, bunker and pogy.

[@jefferypatanella2884]

Will those scales show up in a mold ?

[@EngineeredAngler]

not without some enhancements

[@danielflowers3564]

🤯

[@pbaquatics94]

Awesome build i would like to see uou make a whopper plopper😊

[@pyro4lifef4]

Can you pleas make an Popper

[@miamiwax5504]

I dont know why more lures arent shaped like this.

[@EngineeredAngler]

Me too

[@AliasgharZarif-tg4pi]

Hello, I am writing to you from Iran. I cannot buy from you because of the embargo. Can you send me the quantity and materials needed for Fantachrome? I sincerely thank you.

[@EngineeredAngler]

Sorry I can not provide you with that information because my chemicals come prepared by a company in the USA.

[@maniachill3069]

I really wish you wouldn't hold that in your hand while drilling holes. You're very intelligent, you know better. I love you Bro, but damn that makes me nervous. Hello from Maine.

[@EngineeredAngler]

It looks much sketchier than it really is. But thanks for the thought.

[@AnxiousBaits]

There’s a much easier way to do that foil. Check out mine. 🤘🏻🍻

[@juderyan1284]

Nice looking lures man. How do you do the scaling?

[@Straight0uttaCrofton]

some poor fish is going to get more than it bargained for / =

[@EngineeredAngler]

That's the plan

[@mikewasniewski4048]

Sorry.